Mauritania

Preamble
Trusting in the omnipotence of Allah, the Mauritanian people proclaims its will to guarantee
the integrity of its territory, its independence, and its national unity and to take upon itself its
free political economic and social development. Believing strongly in its spiritual values and
in the spreading of its civilization, it also solemnly proclaims its attachment to Islam and to
the principles of democracy as they have been defined by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights of 10 Dec 1948 and by the African Charter of Human and Peoples Rights of 28 June
1981 as well as in the other international conventions which Mauritania has signed. Judging
that liberty, equality, and the dignity of Man may be assured only in a society which
establishes the primacy of law, taking care to create the durable conditions for a harmonious
social development respectful of the precepts of Islam, the sole source of law, but responsive
as well to the exigencies of the modern world, the Mauritanian people proclaims in particular
the inalienable guarantee of the following rights and principles:
– the right to equality;
– the fundamental freedoms and rights of human beings;
– the right of property;
– political freedom and freedom of labor unions;
– economic and social rights; and
– the rights attached to the family, the basic unit of Islamic society.

Article 13 [Presumption of Innocence, Personal Liberty, Privacy, No Violence]
(3) The honor and the private life of the citizen and the inviolability of his person his domicile
and his correspondence shall be protected by the State.

Article 16 [Family]
The State and society shall protect the family.